Source: Recent 'furry' story concerns grandmother, The Windsor Beacon, Fort Collins, CO.

Windsor resident Gary Crist • July 18, 2009

DEAR GARY: I was at a family gathering last week, and my 16-year-old grand-daughter was telling some of us about a boy she went to school with who had sex with an older woman at a party in Fort Collins where people dress up like animals. I pride myself, at my age, for being up-to-date on current events, but this is too much. What are these meetings where people dress up like animals and have sex, and why aren't the police doing something if kids are being molested while attending? - FLABBERGASTED GRANDMOTHER

DEAR FLABBERGASTED GRANDMOTHER: I did some checking and found out that the Coloradoan reported early in July that a 45-year-old woman was arrested and charged with several felony counts of sexual contact with a child. It is alleged that this woman had sexual contact with a 16-year-old Fort Collins youth at a party called a "fur meet." The people who attend these fur meets, according to the host of the local gatherings, enjoy socializing, going to dinner and sharing a common interest for the artistic appreciation of anthropomorphism - or humanlike animal characters. Some of the attendees do dress up like animals; they are called "fursuiters." The woman accused of having a sexual relationship with this boy was known as "Kitteh" and would occasionally wear cat ears to the parties, and the youth came dressed as a fox.

It appears that there is a fairly large "fur" following in the U.S. and the U.K. There is a Rocky Mountain Fur conference that will take place next month in Denver, and 3,000 fursuiters recently attended a four-day Pittsburgh conference.

As far as I can tell, this woman had a relationship with the victim prior to attending the fur parties. It appears that the only connection between the Fort Collins fur group and the accused woman and the 16-year-old boy was that she took him to the parties. The host of the Fort Collins parties stated that they do not condone any illegal activities at their parties and it is a misnomer that the furries are a sexually promiscuous group.

I don't think you should worry too much about there being local parties where people dressed like animals are having orgies or that kids are being abused at these fur meetings. They appear to be harmless and, like any organization, have their share of oddballs. As I recall, there were some strange things going on in the 1960s as well. Thanks for writing.

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